Promise Me (Myron Bolitar Series #8)

Determined to keep his friends' children safe, Myron Bolitar makes two neighborhood girls promise to call him if they are ever in a bind. Several nights later, a call comes in at two o'clock a.m. The next day, a girl is missing, and Myron is the last person who saw her. And now, he must race to find her, before she is gone forever...

Overview

Determined to keep his friends' children safe, Myron Bolitar makes two neighborhood girls promise to call him if they are ever in a bind. Several nights later, a call comes in at two o'clock a.m. The next day, a girl is missing, and Myron is the last person who saw her. And now, he must race to find her, before she is gone forever...

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Editorial Reviews

The Barnes & Noble ReviewAfter six long years, fans of Harlan Coben's Myron Bolitar saga (Darkest Fear, The Final Detail, et al.) can finally rejoice: The New Jersey basketball legend turned sports agent and amateur sleuth is back -- and better than ever -- in Promise Me, an addictively readable thriller that turns a simple act of kindness into a convoluted nightmare.

During a "coming out" party to celebrate Bolitar's budding new relationship with freelance writer and 9/11 widow Ali Wilder, the 6'4" former Boston Celtics washout overhears a drunken conversation in his basement between Wilder's daughter, Erin, and Aimee Biel, both students at Bolitar's alma mater, Livingston High School. In an attempt to protect the girls from the potentially deadly situation of accepting a ride with an inebriated acquaintance, Bolitar makes the girls promise him that if they're ever in need of a ride they will call him, regardless of the time or place -- no questions asked. Shortly thereafter, Biel takes him up on his offer. Upholding his promise, Bolitar picks up the Duke-bound high school senior in midtown Manhattan at two o'clock in the morning and drives her to what he thinks is a girlfriend's house in suburban New Jersey -- only to find out the next day that she has gone missing. Vowing to find Biel, Bolitar investigates her personal history and uncovers a viper's nest of dirty little secrets -- secrets that could destroy more than a few prominent Livingston families…

The ingeniously elaborate plot of Promise Me is a virtual roller-coaster ride of wild twists and turns, and no one will be able to predict the bombshell of a conclusion. In a word: Unputdownable. Paul Goat Allen

Janet Maslin

Promise Me shows off the best of Mr. Coben's plotting skills, though he has overtaxed them in recent books. This time he's got it just right: the story is tricky enough to be exciting but not tricky enough to cause whiplash. The New York Times

Publishers Weekly

After a six-year hiatus, it's good to herald the return of Myron Bolitar, the former Boston Celtics basketball star who became a sports agent and crime solver in Coben's sprightly, exciting series. Even better, it's great fun to hear Coben himself performing this excellent audio version. As a reader, Coben has a quality best summed up by the Yiddish word hamishe (homelike, in its weaker translation). He may not be Laurence Olivier, but he sure knows how to make believers of his listeners. When Bolitar talks about going back to live with his parents in New Jersey, Coben catches the basic boyishness of his aging hero and the impact such a move has on Myron's love life. Of course, the world has gotten a lot more complicated: Bolitar's ladyfriend lost her husband on September 11. When he offers to help her teenage daughter, he quickly finds himself involved in some very dangerous adventures. With fading sports stars behaving badly in real life, it's a great pleasure to see that Bolitar has found ways to survive honorably. Simultaneous release with the Dutton hardcover (Reviews, Mar. 6). (May) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Forbes Magazine

Too bad the book's hero, Myron Bolitar, a former basketball-star-turned-sports-and-entertainment-agent, can't go into politics. Myron vividly learns the perils of promises: They can have unpleasant, disappears. Three months earlier another local teenager had disappeared. Both adolescents had used the same ATM in Manhattan. The book takes off in high gear. (19 Jun 2006)Steve Forbes

Library Journal

A promise made on a whim comes back to haunt sports and entertainment agent Myron Bolitar. Worrying about two neighborhood girls riding with drunk drivers, Myron vows to help them anytime and anywhere as long as they call. Keeping his word a few nights later, he drops off one of the young girls in a suburban neighborhood, and she promptly vanishes. Her angry parents question his motives, and eventually so do the police. Myron swears to the missing girl's mother that he will find her daughter, even if she doesn't want to be found. The return of reluctant hero Myron (Darkest Fear) after a six-year absence will be applauded by his fans and enjoyed by newcomers. Abandoning the expected thriller elements, Coben has written a compelling drama that examines the power of honesty and determination to do the right thing. This should be shortlisted for major awards. Promise to read it. For all fiction collections.-Jeff Ayers, Seattle P.L. Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

After six years of spinning jaw-dropping stand-alone thrillers, Coben brings back his sports agent-make that everything agent-Myron Bolitar (Darkest Fear, 2000, etc.) for an encore. Overhearing high-school senior Erin Wilder, his current ladylove's daughter, sharing confidences with her friend Aimee Biel about getting driven by wasted friends, Myron Bolitar promises both girls that if they ever need a ride, they can call him and he'll pick them up, no questions asked. All too soon he gets a chance to deliver. Aimee phones him from midtown Manhattan, where he just happens to be staying, and asks him to drive her to suburban New Jersey. Myron obliges but pushes a bit too hard with the questions, and Aimee vanishes into a strange house. The next day she's still missing, and in jig time the police, armed with Myron's credit-card slips and EZ-Pass records, come calling. It turns out that Myron's not a credible suspect. But because everybody connects Aimee's disappearance to that of fellow student Katie Rochester three months ago, Myron's on the hook with some serious people, from Aimee's parents, who beg him to bring her home, to Katie's mobbed-up dad, who's too proud to beg but has other ways of getting him to cooperate. As usual, Coben piles on the plot twists, false leads, violent set pieces and climactic surprises with the unfocused intensity that have made his thrillers (The Innocent, 2005, etc.) such a hot ticket. Book-of-the-Month Club/Mystery Guild/Literary Guild/Doubleday Book Club main selection

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Meet the Author

Harlan Coben is the internationally bestselling author of more than twenty previous novels, including the #1 New York Times bestsellers The Stranger,Missing You, Six Years, Stay Close, Live Wire, Caught, Long Lost, and Hold Tight, as well as the Myron Bolitar series and a series aimed at young adults featuring Myron’s nephew, Mickey Bolitar. The winner of the Edgar, Shamus, and Anthony Awards, he lives in New Jersey.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

Fans of Myron Bolitar unite! Will our faithfulness and longing be duly served in this next Bolitar entry? I will endure feverishly the endless minutes until April 25th. If it is true Harlan would know the right time to bring Myron back, then this hiatus should be well worth its weight in YooHoo.

Guest

More than 1 year ago

This was my first Harlan Coben book and won't be my last! I loved Myron Bolitar and can't wait to read the other books from his series. The story line was fast-moving and full of surprises yet easy to follow along and keep all of the characters in order. I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes a little drama and suspense.

Anonymous

More than 1 year ago

Lise_Horton

More than 1 year ago

I met Harlan Coban at RWA National 2011 and fell madly in like with this hilarious man. His books, however, have a far darker and thrilling tone but they are equally engaging. His Myron Bolitar character is reminiscent to me of Robert B. Parker's Spenser, and Bolitar's friend Will plays a rather Hawk-like role as his even scarier sidekick/buddy (high praise from me). But Coban's books are in a class all their own. In Promise Me (Bolitar #8), Bolitar extracts a promise from two young girls who are partying and casually talking about getting a ride home from someone who's been drinking. All too well aware of the dangers that lurk for these young girls, he gets them to promise: Call him, anytime, anywhere, if they need help or a ride or ... anything. And that well-meant promise sets the stage for dark, dangerous and deadly happenings that draw Bolitar in and put him in serious trouble after one of the teens takes him up on the offer - and disappears into the night. From protective and desperate parents both criminal and otherwise, from thugs, and from the police when the girl goes missing and Myron was the last one to see her. Coupled with college application shenanigans, and a budding romance for Myron even as the former love of his life is getting hitched, Bolitar and team will stop at nothing to save the girls who disappeared. Did they run away? Are the 2 missing girls linked as evidence seems to say? Or is there something more sinister going on. Desperation leads to dark choices for these characters and Myron is in the thick of it all. Setting this thriller in the heart of a community with families, high school students, jealousy and competition, Coban crafts a twisty, provocative thriller (I never saw the end coming!) and manages social commentary on the unforeseen results of even the most generous of actions. If you haven't discovered Harlan and Myron, and the other Coban titles, you're missing out. And Promise Me is a knock-out punch.